Silveon
Silveon Eldrant is a fictional character in the world of Celesti and is known as being the main villain of the story. He is sadistic by nature and holds control over the mercenaries within the group, and his ultimate goal is for power over all Rune Energy to render the world in a state of chaos, eliminating Pure-kind. Background (Gale's Mercenaries) Silveon became involved in a mercenary group led by Gale, an enigmatic but proud warrior attempting to form a powerful elite fighting force that he could privately be in charge of. Silveon, whose background remains a mystery, signed up straight away and became a part of the fighting force alongside various others. He was paired up with Aramis Emeris, another young fighter, and trained in the way of the sword. The ultimate goal of Gale was to create a private army free from the imperial armies, in order to help the weak and needy, a practice that he felt had been overlooked. Gale was always a believer that the powers of the world were more focused on their own wellbeing than that of their people, and he made his mercenary group to take up jobs helping people fend off bandits, protect shipments and various other jobs. However, it was around this time that the Treaty of the Celesti was signed, where The Celesti, the eight Rune Stones, were divided up amongst the countries of the world bar Vennicio, which was exempt from the Treaty due to their human population and refusal to work with the Pures. The Stones were to be hidden away in every country, so that no one individual would be able to control all Rune Energy. Gale took a great interest in these artifacts, and realised the potential that they had - after it was revealed to the public that the Rune Stones controlled all power of their respective elemental affinity, Gale - armed with his own Wind Crest - became aware that conflict would become common place over the possession of these objects. Therefore, in order to prevent others from using these relics to create chaos, began a large-scale mission to collect them. Silveon was amongst those chosen to collect The Celesti. Having been raised by Gale, Silveon had great respect and loyalty to the man, and made it his absolute duty to collect the Stones. His partner, however, Aramis Emeris distrusted Gale, and felt reluctant to hand them all over to one person. He finally voiced his concerns upon finding the Ice Stone, locked away in a chamber in Forena that had long since been forgotten through time. When Silveon attempted to take the Stone, Aramis quickly volunteered to take it and slipped it into his pocket. He claimed that he would return The Stone to Gale whilst Silveon located the next, and, the two of them having been friends for a period of time, Silveon believed him. Instead however, Aramis found the current Duke of Forena and informed him that he had the Stone in his possession, and that the whereabouts of it was no longer a secret. Forena, who was outraged by the news, thanked Aramis and decided that his Stone couldn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands, especially when Gale and potentially others were trying to get their hands on them. Keeping The Stone, he left an edict to his son to protect the Stone by whatever means necessary. Aramis left Gale's mercenaries shortly after, having become distrusting of their cause. He settled down with his family in Brundt and his wife gave birth to a young boy, Avarian Pure like his parents - Quince. Silveon returned to Gale during this time after locating another of the Stones, The Stone of Light, and found that Gale had not received the Ice Stone, nor seen Aramis since he parted ways with Silveon. Silveon located Aramis' home after years of searching and found that he was living with his new family, having left the mercenaries without a single word of leave. Growing resentful towards Aramis, Silveon reported back to Gale that Aramis had stolen The Ice Stone for himself. Gale followed Silveon and located Aramis, and after confronting him they barged into his home looking for the Stone. Aramis insisted that he didn't have it, but refused to tell them where it was. Silveon encouraged Gale to leave, but Gale, the once noble leader, murdered Aramis before his eyes, as well as his wife for perverting his goal. As Gale left, Silveon found the young 7-year old Quince cowering over the body of his murdered parents, and Silveon took him under his cloak in order to protect him. As Gale burnt Aramis' home to the ground, Silveon took the boy under his arm back to the mercenary headquarters in secret. Background (The Vanguard) Silveon enroled Quince in a new routine the mercenaries were running in order to train more soldiers. Many of their members (the unit was still growing at this point) were orphans who had been taken in by Gale, who would be willing to serve and train under him for a roof above their heads. Quince was labelled as one of these very orphans, and was paired up with a confident young boy of the same age known as Azen. Azen was hot-headed and wild, and took a disliking to Quince, who was a sombre and quiet child. The two were forced to work together in sparring and training however, and a bitter rivalry soon grew between them. They had different friends within the mercenaries, and when they came together to work they usually argued and faught. They were trained in the same sword style (that of Silveon, who was officially in charge of them whilst Gale continued to seek out The Stones), and so learnt similar techniques for fighting. They became brutally competitive, always attempting to out-do the other during sparring. In their teenage years they were given Rune Crests; Quince's of Ice and Azen's of Fire. Their conflict continued into early adulthood, during which time Gale passed away, never able to complete his mission. Although he had other mercenaries who had been working with him from Day 1, he trusted Silveon the most and named him his successor on his deathbed, making it his dying wish that Silveon continue what he started. Silveon became the leader of Gale's Mercenaries, and soon renamed the group 'The Vanguard' as an elite fighting force. However, power went to Silveon's head. He became fascinated with strength, and bred a deep hatred for the weak. He soon brought an end to the children's program, feeling having too many people to manage would result in too many possible people to betray him. It became revealed in the following years that many had wish to overthrow Gale and opposed him during his time as leader of the mercenaries, and that Aramis hadn't been the only one. This made Silveon incredibly paranoid, a condition that rapidly escalated to the point that he constantly needed to keep tabs on all of his employees. He settled on having a simple 12-person elitist unit, keeping only the best and letting the others go one way or another. Amongst these twelve mercenaries were Scarlette, Crest, Hector who had joined during the recent few years and had proved incredibly loyal (Silveon had made Crest his only employed Pure). Frost was also a part of The Twelve, and Azen and Quince were kept too. The Twelve were seen as the most loyal of the mercenaries, and they pledged complete alligence to Silveon in carrying out his mission to collect The Celesti Stones. It was clear that Silveon was slowly becoming more hateful towards mankind. He spent great deals of time alone mulling over old literature and reading of The Celesti Stones. Whereas Gale had claimed to desire The Stones to avoid conflict, Silveon made no lie in stating that he wished to have The Stones for power. When he began fearing his mercenaries loyalty, he decided to have them all spy on one another. After another year of his paranoia growing, he created a terrible game known as 'Lucky Number Twelve'. Lucky Number Twelve The premise was simple - to have his mercenaries given a number that would dictate their ranking in The Vanguard, starting with the ones he trusted the most and ending with those he did not. On the surface this seemed innocent enough, but as Silveon began to fear that others could steal The Stones and keep them for himself, 'Lucky Number Twelve' took a twisted turn. Upon retreiving a third Stone, The Stone of Thunder, Silveon began plotting getting rid of his mercenaries one-by-one. He announced to them that new information had been presented to prove that one of them was disloyal and would betray them. There was chaos between The Twelve as they all began to accuse one another. Silveon took this opportunity to label the lowest ranking member as the traitor, and watched as the mercenaries killed him almost without flinching. This proved their loyalty to him and also their fear of what might happen should they disobey. He finally introduced one last element to his twisted game after the death of the 12th member. To prove who was the strongest and most deserving of being his right-hand mind, and in extension being gifted with enormous power when all of The Celesti Stones were collected, they would have to constantly fight a battle against one another whilst collecting The Stones. He made a new law within The Vanguard - those with the highest number were next to die (11 being the highest, 1 being the lowest), unless they could get their hands on the number of a person above them. However, the rules were slightly more perverse than this, else The Vanguard would have killed each other off in minutes. It was only permitted that a person could attempt to defeat the mercenary below them (the 11th would only be able to attack the 10th, the 9th only able to attack the 8th and so on). If The Mercenary could not defend themselves and fell to the others blade, they could take their number and ranking. In order to provide entertainment Silveon dispersed his mercenaries to other sides of Celesti. Some were paired up with rankings that weren't close, so that there was no incentive for them to kill one another. Using this method, Silveon had control over his Mercenaries, and any that refused to boost their ranks would be killed off by him personally. So began the race to be the last man standing. Role in Celesti Silveon's role in Celesti is as the main antagonist. When his mercenaries begin to turn on him, Silveon becomes sadistic and terrifying. He appears to be everywhere, drifting in the shadows, and becomes a name to be feared and loathed. Although Frost, Azen, Quince, Scarlette and Crest still work for him during the beginning of the story, (Hector presumed dead), very few stay with him until the end. Frost and Quince are the two most rebellious, the former turning against Silveon after he attempts to kill Ranna, and the latter due to loyalty to his family and for justice. Crest's loyalties shift through the events of Celesti, and Azen and Scarlette remain constantly loyal to Silveon. Although Silveon is rarely encountered in battle during the events of Celesti (until the climactic Final Battle), he is always present and seen in various scenes giving orders to the mercenaries. He tends to give orders to Scarlette and Azen in secret, and for great periods of time disappears only to turn up to amuse himself by inflicting pain on others - particularly Sable Auburn. He dislikes Sable for distracting Frost from his mission during their relationship, and Sable is considered to be a nuisance to him. On various occasions Silveon beats Sable up and demands sexual favours from her, showing his degregation and lack of pride in himself. In Celesti Silveon remains a constant threat, eventually leading him to killing Quince near the end of the story. Relationship with others *'Frost' - Frost is trusted by Silveon, even though he is a late joiner into The Vanguard. For whatever reason Silveon senses something within him that can be trusted, and wishes to test him in front of Quince, the Second. Frost is The First and is therefore immune unless Quince attacks him, although during the events of Celesti six members of The Twelve still remain, and Frost and Quince are not in direct competition with one another. Silveon remains trusting of Frost until Frost becomes romantically involved with Ranna, during which time Frost turns against Silveon when Silveon attempts to extract the Ice Stone from Ranna by killing her. He remains, after this scene, a direct enemy to Silveon, choosing Ranna and the group against him. *'Quince' - Quince was brought to Gale's Mercenaries by Silveon himself, who saw potential in him and did not wish to leave the baby alone after the murder of Quince's father, Aramis. Quince is trusted by Silveon, although Silveon is unaware that Quince has a family behind the scenes - a wife called Merle and a son called Hunter. Quince was raised by Silveon and learnt his sword style, and for a period before the story begins Silveon can be considered a father figure to Quince. Quince is a thorn in Silveon's side, and is opposed to him gathering The Celesti Stones at the beginning of the narrative which remains his aim for the entirety of the story. Although Quince is killed by Silveon eventually for getting in his way, Silveon shows genuine compassion to Quince and reluctance to having to kill him. *'Azen' - Azen is Silveon's Third mercenary, and is always presented as being his most loyal follower. Azen follows Silveon's word as law, whether it involves killing innocents or standing in the way of Quince and Frost. Azen survives the entirety of Celesti, and is always a devout follower of Silveon's. *'Crest' - Crest is the only Pure favoured by Silveon that joined by his own accord - with the exception of Quince, Crest is the only Pure that Silveon will allow within his ranks. This is because Crest is one of the few Ursarian's left, and because he is easily swayed into following any command if Silveon can present it in a positive light. During events in the story Silveon is constantly forgiving of Crest's blunders even when he punishes the others in a far more harsh way. Crest is used by Silveon throughout the entire story of Celesti in order to gain the trust of the group and become integrated with them, especially Frost, Quince and Ranna, the three which interest Silveon the most. At a key point in the story, Crest is used in conjunction with the Stone of Thunder in order to wipe out a huge mass of Pures who are exposed to intense amounts of Rune Energy. After serving this purpose Silveon finishes with Crest, attempting to kill the bear but failing when Crest is saved. After this, Crest opposes Silveon as considerably as Quince and Frost. *'Hector - '''Hector is considered by Silveon to be missing, presumed dead at the start of Celesti. Although Silveon never certifies that he is dead, he is the one mercenary that Silveon has lost sight of. This is due to the events with Hector's brother, Gavin, that resulted in Gavin dying and Hector taking his identity, making Silveon believe that he had killed the former mercenary. However, Silveon doesn't quite believe that he has seen the last of Hector, and when he eventually finds the man he attempts to kill him, although Hector manages to survive by being teamed up with Quince and Frost. *'Scarlette - 'Scarlette is valued by Silveon for shallow reasons - he sees Scarlette as a passing fancy; a woman he can have entertain him, and thus he keeps her around. He thrives upon distressing her, and their relationship is most certainly warped - he often holds her at knife point, before kissing her, and then threatening to kill her all in the space of one meeting. He generally sees Scarlette for her appearance. Their relationship has sexual connotations, and it is unsurprising if the two of them sleep together. Scarlette is fearful of Silveon and, as she is the Sixth mercenary, is under constant pressure to kill Hector, of whome Silveon is assured is still alive. When Scarlette finds Hector is in fact still alive, she makes it her absolute goal to kill him before her own time runs out. *'Ranna - '''Silveon finds that the Ice Stone has been artificially placed deep within Ranna, stunting her growth but preserving the Stone, by Duke Forena. For a period of the story he finds this out and attempts to remove the Stone, almost killing Ranna in the process. When Frost returns to save her, turning against Silveon, the Stone is removed but Ranna is kept alive, Frost looking after her for three days at a lakeside. After this event Silveon partially loses his interest in Ranna, but something else about the girl still intrigues him. Could it be her Avarian-like wings on her head, or something else entirely?